Aflac

Aflac {{nyse|AFL}} is an American insurance company, which was founded by three brothers, John, Paul, and Bill Amos in 1955 in Columbus, Georgia.

Related Topics:
Insurance - 1955 - Columbus, Georgia

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The company's corporate name was formerly American Family Life Assurance Company, but in 2005 the acronym was formally adopted as the legal name. The official name on the firm's Web site, and for legally selling insurance, is the American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus.

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Aflac has three realms of operations: New York State, the rest of the United States, and Japan (where they still use the term "American Family" in its commercials).

Related Topics:
New York State - United States - Japan

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At the end of 2002, the corporation's total assets were $45 billion. They offer insurance coverage for accidents/disabilities, cancer, short-term disabilities, hospital intensive care, hospital confinement indemnity, hospital confinement sickness indemnity, long-term care, specified health event, life and dental.

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They have become much more famous and well known in recent times with their famous AFLAC duck commercials (with Gilbert Gottfried providing the voice) on television which started airing in December of 1999. The AFLAC duck character has now starred in many different commercials, due in part to the company's raised assets in the years since his introduction. Most commercials feature the people discussing the short-term disability insurance that AFLAC provides but with the people unable to remember the name of the company and the duck "quacking" the company name to jog their memory. There have also been some celebrities to star in the ads, such as Chevy Chase, Yogi Berra, Donald Trump's wife Melania Trump, and the United States Olympics synchronized swimming team. (Berra's ad takes place in a barber shop and features three new Yogiisms: "It's the one you really need to have -- if you don't have it -- that's why you need it", "If you get hurt and miss work, it won't hurt to miss work" and "They give you cash, which is just as good as money." Technically speaking, they were intentionally conceived as Yogiisms, and thus they aren't "true" yogiisms.) The duck has even appeared in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, although instead of saying 'Aaaa-Flack!', it just says 'Aaaaa!' The Aflac duck also appears in commercials in Japan, though with a different voice quacking "Aflac!".

Related Topics:
Duck - Gilbert Gottfried - Television - Chevy Chase - Yogi Berra - Donald Trump - Melania Trump - Olympics - Synchronized swimming - Yogiisms - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

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In 2001, Aflac was named by Fortune magazine as the fifth most admired company in the life and health insurance sector in its annual listing of "America's Most Admired Companies."

Related Topics:
2001 - ''Fortune''

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